St. Joseph County worker pay raises won't be across board

Commissioners allow pay ordinance to become law.

Commissioners allow pay ordinance to become law.

September 19, 2006|NANCY SULOK Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- The St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners decided Monday to let the 2007 salary ordinance become law without their signature. The County Council passed an ordinance last week that gives raises to some county employees, but not to others. Workers who will be getting bumps in their pay are in departments that managed to cut their expenses by at least 2 percent and reduce their staffing levels. Commissioner Mark Dobson, R-1st District, said he could not support the measure because of his earlier commitment to improve pay for county police officers who are members of the Fraternal Order of Police. Police officers and other county workers deserve raises but will not be getting them, he said. Commissioner Cindy Bodle, D-3rd District, made a motion to approve the ordinance, but Dobson declined to second it. Commissioner Steve Ross, D-2nd District, was not at the meeting. Under the county rules, the lack of a vote automatically ratifies the measure, and it becomes law in 10 days. On another matter, the commissioners approved engineering fees up to $863,724 for Ken Herceg & Associates Inc. for work to rebuild Gumwood Road. Dobson took umbrage at comments made about the project last week by Ross, who said politics played a role in the rebuilding work. Ross claimed the project was being done to help the re-election of Dobson, who represents the Gumwood Road area. Both Dobson and Bodle noted that the project actually began in the late 1990s, before Dobson was elected. Bodle said the Gumwood Road area once was in her district, and she put the project on the books around 1999 because of increased traffic loads.